Do we really need restaurant dress codes? - Eat Out

Jun 06, 2024

Here's our fashion statement.

For most people clothing is a form of expression, a means to stand out or blend in, to say who we are and who we are not. When dining out, the opportunity to slip on an outfit – don the hats and jewels and shoes – can for many be the epitome of a good time.

But rules are rules, and the days of people telling you what you can and cannot wear didn’t disappear when you left high school, after all. There has been a minor uproar over a reported tightening of the dress code at Gordon Ramsay’s flagship Chelsea restaurant. It has a formal atmosphere and centres on fine dining, but the Mail Online claims the advice has been more strictly enforced over the past year.

“We would like all of our guests to feel free to express their own individual style however, we do ask guests to avoid shorts, tracksuits and hoodies. Smart trainers are fine,” the restaurant says on its homepage. “We know lots of our guests like to dress smartly … Ultimately we want every guest to feel at home.”

Do we really need dress codes at our restaurants? Has the era of working-from-home and fast fashion, the comfort-over-couture fashion of recent years, forced restaurants to give us a little reminder by way of a code?

Bentley restaurant + bar interior Source: Supplied

Dress codes have been a thing in Europe for years, or decades. Anyone who has lived in London during their party years might recall, as I do, standing beside a friend outside a club as he asked the bouncer what other shoe a self-respecting male Londoner could wear. “Brogues? Sandals? Hunters? It’s 6 degrees out here, sneakers are the only reasonable shoe for a man under 62.” Women could meanwhile wear what they liked – then – as long as it was heels.

In Australia, the shunning of shorts, tracksuits and hoodies in restaurants and bars comes across as a suggestion more than a rule. Like Gordon Ramsay’s polite request, the gist is that more smart casual getup in some venues will make everyone feel more comfortable.

Merivale, the hospitality group with venues and bars spanning Sydney, Melbourne, Narooma and elsewhere, says the dress code for its restaurants is “smart casual”. “However, some guests choose to dress more formally, depending on the occasion.” In Ivy clubs, the code is also “smart casual”, but the Merivale advises that “thongs and singlets should be avoided”.

At Crown Sydney, smart casual attire is required “at all times”. In this soaring waterfront building in which top-shelf bars and so-fine dining reside, there is to be no unclean or untidy clothing or footwear, no lewd or offensive garments or slogans, and no sporting attire such as tracksuits or swim wear. Even activewear – Sydney’s daytime uniform – is shown the door.

Quay, the top Sydney restaurant helmed by chef Peter Gilmore, also asks guests to dress “smart casual”, to be in keeping with the “smart sophistication” of the restaurant. “Please refrain from wearing sports clothing or beachwear,” the restaurant says on its website. “Including sleeveless t-shirts” and flip flops.

When we are going out somewhere special-slash-expensive, most of us prefer not to have a full view of our neighbour’s unmanicured feet. More focus on the Snow Egg and the Opera House, and less on armpits, a dress code might imply. It’s understandable that some patrons might want the ambience and experience of dining out to match the standard of the food.

However, perhaps more important than what one wears is how one acts. Surely, good manners, courtesy and politeness is what really creates a pleasant place to dine.